User blog:Lancer1289/Video Game Art at the Smithsonian
Opening Just in case any of you have missed it, from March 16, 2012 – September 30, 2012 the Smithsonian American Art Museum will exhibit Video Game art from the beginning. This even has a voting process for which games will be exhibited which is best described by the quote below from the website. *Era 1: START!: 1970s – early 1980s. "The beginning of the home video game revolution" *Era 2: 8-BIT: early 1980s - early 1990s. "The game industry reinvents itself after a collapse in the market." *Era 3: BIT WARS!: early 1990s – mid-1990s: "When technology and artistry collide, an explosion of creativity ensues." *Era 4: TRANSITION: mid-1990s – early 2000s: "Artists move from two dimensions to three." *Era 5: NEXT GENERATION: early 2000s – Today" "The foundation for the present, and future, of video games." I encourage you all to go and vote for your favorite games and for the best art in games. I won't list the games and categories, as there are some things that you have to find out for yourselves. Voting will be open from February 14, 2011 to April 7, 2011 so make sure to go and vote. Links Just be careful when you are voting as the website says "You cannot change an individual vote once you have selected it so choose carefully." So please do choose carefully. The links are below for the sites. Voting Website: http://www.artofvideogames.org/ (You MUST register to vote) Smithsonian American Art Museum Website: http://americanart.si.edu/ Exhibition Home Page: http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/archive/2012/games/ (Featuring the Illusive Man in his office from the Mass Effect 2 Limited Collectors' Edition Art Book. Thought it would be interesting) Well voting on this closed on April 17, 2011, so I hope you went and voted. The winners will be announced on May 5, 2011. I'll post a link to them when they come out, but if you went an voted, then you will get notified of them before they are released to the public. Either way, I have a reason to visit DC next year. Winners Below are the winners in (game, year) format) Era 1: START Atari VCS *Action: Pac‐Man, 1981 *Adventure: Pitfall!, 1982 *Target: Space Invaders, 1980 *Combat/Strategy: Combat, 1977 ColecoVision *Action: Donkey Kong , 1982 *Adventure: Pitfall II: Lost Caverns, 1984 *Target: Zaxxon, 1982 *Combat/Strategy: Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator, 1983 Mattel Intellivision *Action: TRON: Maze‐Atron, 1982 *Adventure: Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 1982 *Target: Attack of the Mutant Camels, 1983 *Combat/Strategy: Utopia , 1981 Era 2: 8-BIT Commodore 64 *Action: Jumpman, 1983 *Adventure: The Bard's Tale III: Thief of Fate, 1988 *Target: Space Invaders, 1980 *Combat/Strategy: Sid Meier's Pirates!, 1987 Nintendo Entertainment System *Action: Super Mario Brothers 3, 1988 *Adventure: The Legend of Zelda, 1986 *Target: 1943: The Battle of Midway, 1988 *Combat/Strategy: Desert Commander, 1989 SEGA Master System *Action: Marble Madness, 1986 *Adventure: Phantasy Star, 1987 *Target: After Burner, 1988 *Combat/Strategy: Spy vs Spy, 1984 Era 3: BITWARS! SEGA Genesis *Action: Earthworm Jim, 1994 *Adventure: Phantasy Star IV, 1993 *Target: Gunstar Heroes, 1993 *Combat/Strategy: Dune II: Battle for Arrakis, 1994 Super Nintendo Entertainment System *Action: Super Mario World , 1991 *Adventure: The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, 1991 (Close Decision between three nominees) *Target: Star Fox, 1993 *Combat/Strategy: SimCity, 1989 Era 4: TRANSITION DOS/Windows *Action: DOOM II, 1994 *Adventure: Fallout, 1997 *Target: Diablo II, 2000 *Combat/Strategy: StarCraft, 1998 (Went up against Command & Conquer and Uplink: Hacker Elite. Such an easy decision) Nintendo 64 *Action: Super Mario 64, 1996 *Adventure: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, 1998 (So worth it. Up against Majora's Mask and Paper Mario) *Target: Goldeneye 007, 1997 (Personally voted for Star Fox, other nomoniee was PilotWings 64 which I've never heard of) *Combat/Strategy: Worms Armageddon, 1999 SEGA Dreamcast *Action: Sonic Adventure, 1998 *Adventure: Shenmue, 2000 *Target: Rez, 2001 *Combat/Strategy: ChuChu Rocket!, 1999 SEGA Saturn *Action: Tomb Raider, 1996 *Adventure: Panzer Dragoon Saga, 1998 *Target: Panzer Dragoon II: Zwei, 1996 *Combat/Strategy: SimCity 2000, 1993 Sony PlayStation *Action: Metal Gear Solid, 1998 *Adventure: Final Fantasy VII, 1997 *Target: Einhander, 1998 *Combat/Strategy: Final Fantasy Tactics, 1998 Era 5: NEXT GENERATION Microsoft XBox *Action: Halo 2, 2004 (Up against Psychonauts, JSRF: Jet Set Radio, Future. Not much compotition) *Adventure: Fable, 2004 (Up against Indigo Prophecy and Shenmue II. Again not much compotition) *Target: Panzer Dragoon Orta, 2003 *Combat/Strategy: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, 2002 (Sid Meier's Pirates! and Steel Battalion. SB should have won) Microsoft XBox 360 *Action: Bioshock , 2007 (Beat out Gears of War 2 and Halo 3?!!!) *Adventure: Mass Effect 2, 2010 (Beat out Oblivion?!!! and Limbo, and discussed extensively apparently) *Target: Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, 2008 (Great game) *Combat/Strategy: Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II, 2006 (Beat out Halo Wars and Darwinia+) Modern Windows *Action: Portal, 2007 (If this didn't win vs. World at War and Half Life 2, then there was something wrong) *Adventure: Fallout 3, 2008 (Beat World of Warcract!!!!, and KotOR. Well at least that MMO didn't win) *Target: flOw, 2006 *Combat/Strategy: Minecraft, 2010 (Beat out StarCraft II and Age of Empires 3. This was apparently close) Nintendo GameCube *Action: Metroid Prime 2: Echos, 2004 *Adventure: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, 2003 *Target: Star Fox™: Assault, 2005 *Combat/Strategy: Pikmin 2, 2004 Nintendo Wii *Action: Super Mario Galaxy 2, 2010 *Adventure: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, 2006 *Target: Boom Blox, 2008 *Combat/Strategy: Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure, 2007 Sony PlayStation 2 *Action: Shadow of the Colossus, 2005 (Beat out God of War) *Adventure: Ōkami, 2006 *Target: Gradius V, 2004 *Combat/Strategy: Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty Sony PlayStation 3 *Action: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, 2009 *Adventure: Heavy Rain, 2010 (Beat out DA: Origins and Final Fantasy XIII) *Target: Flower, 2009 *Combat/Strategy: Brütal Legend, 2009 Additional Games In addition, there will be games at the exhibit that people will be able to play. There will be one from each era. *Era 1: Pac-Man *Era 2: Super Mario Brothers *Era 3: The Secret of Monkey Island *Era 4: Myst *Era 5: World of Warcraft Link to Exhibit again: Click here Winners List (PDF): Click here Link to site: Click here Closing So if you can get to the Smithsonian, then get there because I know I will at some point. This is something that will be great and gives me an excuse to visit DC. So enjoy. Category:Blog posts